Page 55 of The Enemies With Benefits Deal

The sun beats down from above, sweat beading on the back of my neck.

Mac sits on the edge of the pool, his feet dangling into the shining blue water. “So, what happened? Did you two decidethat you’re finally going to date instead of still pretending that you don’t like each other?”

“No.” I look up at the fat white clouds drifting across the sky. “I fired her.”

His laughter booms through the backyard. “You have to be the biggest idiot I’ve ever met. Especially when it comes to Jade. Even in college you were falling head over heels for her.”

“Yeah, well, firing her probably isn’t the worst part of what I did.”

Leaning over, I put the bottle on the table beside the lounger before getting up and taking off my socks. I roll the hem of my slacks higher up my calves.

The water is cool as I sit on the edge of the pool, dipping my feet in the water.

Mac shakes his head, leaning back and propping himself up on his hands. “How can it be worse than firing her?”

“Well, I accused her of only coming to the company to screw me over. I might have said something along the lines of her planning this the whole time. And I called her a snake.”

“Oof.” Mac cringes.

“Dad had said some things about the future of the company and her business proposal I knew nothing about. She was planning to stay on with the company for the first year after the rebranding. She was pretty sure I was going to be CEO in the proposal.”

“And you still thought she was out to get you?” Mac scoffs, and for the first time in the decades we’ve known each other, I see disgust in his eyes when he looks at me.

“I didn’t see the proposal until this morning. Everything else happened two days ago.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.” I sigh and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to erase the look on her face when I called her a snake from my mind.

She’s never going to forgive me for that. I wouldn’t either.

I took it too far. I hurt her because I thought she had hurt me.

It didn’t occur to me once to ask her about her side of the story, and even when she tried to tell me, I didn’t want to listen.

Mac kicks some of the water around before looking at me. “I’m going to say something, and it’s going to be hard for you to hear, but it’s long past time someone said it to you.”

Great.

Right now, all I want to do is forget what happened and move on with my life. I want to accept the fact that me and Jade are done before we ever really got started.

And then, once I’ve had too much alcohol and a solid night of sleeping it off, I need to put my head down and get back to work. After telling Jade she was basically fired — which was a lie — Dad is going to be expecting more from me than ever.

I don’t know if Jade even told him the truth.

Mac splashes water onto my slacks. “You aren’t paying attention, and you should be. Otherwise, you’re just going to keep ruining everything else good in your life.”

“You’re right. I’m not listening. I have a million different things on my mind right now, and most of them have to do with Jade.”

“Which is why I’m going to say something that’s going to piss you off.” Mac pauses for a moment, his mouth twisting like he’s trying to figure out the words he wants to say. “You don’t live for yourself, and you never have.”

It sounds eerily close to what Jade said to me, and for a moment I wonder if they’re talking about me.

I know both of them, though. They knew of each other in college, but they didn’t talk. The whole time throughout our situationship, I kept Jade to myself, soaking up as much time with her as possible when I wasn’t plotting against her.

She and Mac just seem to see the same things in me.

Mac clears his throat, pulling his legs out of the water. “You’ve spent your whole life chasing your father’s approval, no matter the cost. Nothing else has ever mattered to you, and it keeps tearing your life into pieces.”

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